ActionSA calls on Gauteng Cogta to intervene amid Ekurhuleni council instability

ActionSA has requested urgent intervention from cooperative governance MEC Mzi Khumalo, alleging that ousted DA City of Ekurhuleni speaker Raymond Dhlamini had purposefully collapsed council proceedings on Thursday, where he was to face a motion of no confidence.

Earlier in the week Dhlamini had managed to evade the initial attempt at his ousting by approaching the courts on an urgent basis on Monday to interdict a meeting where he was facing a motion of no confidence, alleging the meeting had been illegally arranged by the city manager.

Although the meeting was successfully adjourned and Dhlamini lived to see another day in his speaker post, the victory was short-lived as he was ousted on Thursday.

The National Freedom Party accused him of presiding over a DA-run municipality that was failing to deliver services.

According to ActionSA, Dhlamini had walked out of Thursday’s special council meeting, thus leading to its breakdown.

ActionSA Gauteng chair Bongani Baloyi said it was Dhlamini’s responsibility to facilitate the democratic business of council and his behaviour had fallen outside the scope of what could be accepted from an official elected to serve council and the city.

“The inability of the municipality to pass important items, including the adjustment budget, now directly threatens the sustainability of the municipality and its ability to provide services to its residents,” Baloyi said.

“The City of Ekurhuleni cannot be held ransom by the undemocratic practices of its speaker. The continued delays in council business by the DA-led coalition are further exacerbating the existing service delivery issues in that city.” .

Baloyi said there was a human cost to Dhlamini’s dilatory tactics, which had resulted in the people of Ekurhuleni suffering the most.

“We will write to MEC Khumalo requesting that he urgently intervene in the City of Ekurhuleni to protect the residents from further declines in the delivery of basic services,” he said.

“As a constructive opposition in the City of Ekurhuleni, ActionSA does not seek to destabilise the DA-led coalition but, as a party that values the rule of law, we will ensure that no public official engages in undemocratic conduct regardless of which political party they are from.”

After the successful motion of no confidence against Dhlamini, the EFF’s Nthabiseng Tshivenga was ushered in as acting speaker through votes from the ANC and EFF - a move ActionSA deemed “illegitimate”,  thus leading to its call for the MEC’s intervention.

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